Connor Ward
|fgcolor= |image=ConnorWard SC2 Art1.jpg |imgsize=200px |birth= |death=Early 2489, Turaxis II |race=Terran |faction= Terran Confederacy : Confederate Marine Corps :: 321st Colonial Rangers Battalion ::: Special Tactics and Mission Platoon :::: 1st Squad "Heaven's Devils" |gender=Male |height= |weight= |hair= |eyes= |job=Soldier |family=*Dara Ward (daughter) |voice= |concept= |concattop= }} Connor Ward was a husky, dark-skinned marine in the Confederate Marine Corps. He used paired four-barreled rocket launchers as his primary weapons and would use a gauss cannon as a backup. Biography Connor Ward lived with his wife and children on Tyrador VIII, near a refinery. During the Guild Wars, his wife told him they should move away from the refinery for fear of Kel-Morian Combine attacks, but Ward disagreed. His wife was correct however, and the Kel-Morians attacked with Hellhounds, wiping out his family. His daughter, Dara, bled to death in his arms. Ward became consumed with revenge against the Combine. He joined the Confederate military, intending to kill as many Kel-Morians as possible. Confederate Marine Private Connor Ward became part of a six-man squad based at Fort Howe, Turaxis II, led by Sergeant Tychus Findlay and Lance Corporal Jim Raynor. Findlay had just taken over the squad when a Kel-Morian attack on the base was announced. Raynor suggested heading to the armory. As they did so, they encountered a small number of Confederate marines locked in combat with heavily-armored Kel-Morian rippers. Ward promptly blew one into pieces with his rocket launcher, much to his comrades' jubilation. The feat was soon repeated. At the armory proper, the squad noticed Confederate marines loading two trucks with loot. Seeing the theft, Findlay ordered the squad to hijack the vehicles and drive them to Whitford, an empty town. The base's commander, Colonel Javier Vanderspool, was suspicious of the truck theft, as he had planned on splitting the loot with a Kel-Morian officer. He put the squad within a Special Tactics and Missions Platoon, under the command of Lieutenant Marcus Quigby. He also placed a medic, Petty Officer 3rd Class Lisa Cassidy, into the platoon as a spy. The squad met a buyer for their loot in Whitford, but immediately after the transaction were attacked by hijackers. During the battle, Ward blew one up at short range with his rocket launcher. The STM platoon was trained in the use of Thunderstrike armor, which enabled the marines to be dropped from the air onto enemy territory. Cassidy didn't get along with Quigby however, embarrassing him so thoroughly he was transferred to another unit. Revelations Max Zander used his share of loot to purchase food, which he intended to give away for free to war refugees. He took Ward and the armor technician Hiram Feek with him as security. However, this attention-getting mission resulted in an attack by Silas Trask and his bandits, who took Ward and Zander prisoner. (Feek escaped.) Ward and Zander were "stored" in a hand-dug pit in a barn. They were taken to the farmhouse and subjected to verbal abuse. Ward did nothing to provoke physical abuse, but showed that he was not cowed. Trask told them they were being used as bait for the rest of their squad, which was coming to rescue them. Left tied to chairs, Ward told Zander not to apologize. He told him about the Kel-Morians which had attacked his family, wiping them out, and how he blamed himself for it. The conversation was interrupted by Feek, who had used his armor to jump through the house's roof. Ward was unfazed by the entrance. Free Fall Ward and the rest of the STM platoon, now led by Sergeant Findlay, were summoned to a meeting by Colonel Vanderspool. He wanted them to attack Kel-Morian Internment Camp-36 and free the prisoners there, with intelligence provided by former POW Clair Hobarth, who had managed to escape. After the briefing, they were sent to "Camp Crash" where they underwent intensive training with the Thunderstrike armor. Shortly before the attack itself, Jim Raynor volunteered to infiltrate the camp and warn the POWs so they could organize for the evacuation. The platoon dropped onto the camp. After fighting their way in, they discovered Raynor had been identified and tortured. Ward acquired a gauss cannon, which he would use as a back-up weapon. After rescuing them, their plan to evacuate the prisoners by dropship fell apart due to Kel-Morian air attacks, so they stole Kel-Morian vehicles and used those to transport the prisoners into the disputed zone, hoping to hide out until the Confederates could rescue them. However, they were discovered by the light attack vehicle-borne Snakehead Kommando first. Foreman Kar Ottmar led the attack from his LAV, and Ward, lost in memories of his family and taking no cover, targeted it for destruction with all eight rockets, and destroying it with the five that hit. Having exhausted the rockets, he then switched to the gauss cannon and used them to take on heavily armored sloth vehicles. He was having little effect and ignored Findlay's orders to take cover. Findlay dragged him to safety, even as Ward threatened to kill him. The platoon finally made it back to safety with the POWs, but had been reduced to half its original number. River of War Ward and the rest of the depleted platoon met their new commanding officer, Lieutenant Samantha Sanchez. The platoon was expected to take part in the Third Battle of Polk's Pride. The town was divided into two by the Paddick River. The northern section, controlled by the Kel-Morian Combine, housed a strategic resources repository, while the south was controlled by the Terran Confederacy. Two previous attempts by the Confederates to cross the river had failed miserably. Colonel Vanderspool had a new plan. He would throw waves of neurally resocialized marines at the Kel-Morians while the STM platoon would act as a more competent force. The attack began when Confederate goliaths transported sections of pontoon bridge across the river. The STM platoon took on a barricade as the resocs unintentionally drew fire. However, the second barricade—guarded by sloths—was too tough for the platoon, so they went around, intending to strike at its rear. Unfortunately, this path was still defended. Ward fired four of his rockets at a number of rippers, then destroyed a goliath which had emerged from a parking garage. Max Zander reloaded him with four rockets, but without any more reloads, Ward switched to his backup, his gauss cannon. Finally the STM platoon made it behind the sloth barricade. Ward destroyed one the sloths with a rocket, while resocialized marines destroyed the other. As they reached the repository's hill, Ward bellowed in rage, heading toward a number of gauss cannon emplacements. Ward survived the danger thanks to sniper Ryk Kydd, who took out the cannon operators. Ward used his cannon to kill another operator before they could get to him. Ward finally paused, surprised to still be alive, when the rest of his team caught up to him. The team took out the rest of the positions. Ward was out of rockets, and Max Zander made sure to drag him into cover. Finally the Confederates conquered the repository. Vanderspool arrived to claim credit, while UNN reporter Max Speer took their picture. Ward held his gauss cannon while their armor technician, Hiram Feek, sat on it. Afterward Findlay's squad earned a little rest, except for Jim Raynor, who went to prison for assaulting a superior. Ward spent his first time collecting "rack time". Devils' End Colonel Vanderspool had discovered the "treachery" of Findlay's squad, having stolen his trucks during the Battle of Fort Howe, and plotted revenge. He also plotted to enhance his wealth by working with a Kel-Morian officer, Overseer Aaron Pax. Vanderspool would use his men, plus the STM platoon, to steal a shipment of valuable Kel-Morian ardeon crystals and split the loot, then lock down the platoon's armor (one of his technicians put a kill switch in the armor) and subject them to neural resocialization, thus covering his tracks. These schemes were discovered by Findlay, but Lisa Cassidy learned of some of this, and so brought the information to Vanderspool. Colonel Vanderspool brought along a team of men led by Lieutenant Fitz. The colonel's plan was to disguise his men as Kel-Morians and take over the starport of the Kel-Morian-controlled settlement of Korsy. When he headed to the train station the crystals were passing through, the STM platoon would sweep the west edge of the town. Findlay took the opportunity to take control of their dropships without Vanderspool's knowledge. Findlay's troops easily dealt with unarmored Kel-Morian soldiers guarding terrified Confederate civilians who had been forced into slave labor. At one point, they defeated a small force of Kel-Morians, and one of them fled into a daycare. Zander and Ward entered, finding the soldier holding a child hostage. Zander shot him in the leg and rescued the child. Ward stopped the screaming by kicking the soldier in the head. Remembering his own children, he left Zander there for a while, despite the trouble that could cause. Findlay's troops linked up with Vanderspool at the train station, where Lt. Fitz ominously ordered them to stand in the front of the platform. When the train stopped, Overseer Aaron Pax was there with ripper guards, armed with short-ranged weapons. It was a double cross. Hank Harnack slowed them down with his flamethrower while Ward used his rocket launchers to blow them onto the tracks. As the train escaped, an enraged Vanderspool, feeling cheated of his wealth, took Lisa Cassidy hostage, but Findlay's men were able to escape. On their way to the starport, they were stopped by a pair of sloths, one of which shielded the other. Ward fired his rockets at a heavily-armored point on the sloth, which should have survived but for it firing its weapons at the worst possible moment. The sloth blew up. However, the second sloth's line of sight was no longer blocked. Despite Jim Raynor's order to run, Ward stood his ground, firing at the second sloth with his gauss cannon. It fired its cannon at Ward, hitting him in the chest with a shell. Ward was dead. Personality and Traits Due to the Kel-Morians wiping out his family, Ward with a deep hatred of them. In addition, he blamed himself for their deaths too, causing him to seek death in combat. He affixed tiny pictures of his wife and children to the upper edge of his visor. Notes In excerpts for StarCraft II: Heaven's Devils, Ward is referred to as Carter Ward.Heaven's Devils: Chapter Sixteen Excerpt. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2010-05-23. References Dietz, William C. (April 6, 2010). StarCraft II: Heaven's Devils. Simon & Schuster (Gallery Books). ISBN 978-1-4165-5084-6 ko:코너 워드 Category:Terran characters of Heaven's Devils Category:People of Tyrador VIII Category:Terran marines